U.S. Pat. No. 4,880,836 describes the use of alkylureas as anti-viral agents effective against Herpes I virus, Herpes II virus and the AIDS virus. This patent further describes methods of treating viral infections in media such as blood supply, blood bank and surfaces of all kinds by administering to such media an anti-virally effective amount of alkylurea. However, this patent does not describe the use of any alkylureas, including butylurea, as contraceptive agents.
Several pharmaceutical compositions are currently used as contraceptive agents. For example, Nonoxynol-9 is used as a contraceptive agent in the contraceptive foam Semicid. However, prior hereto, Nonoxynol-9 has been found to be irritating to mucus membranes. For example, 6% Nonoxynol-9 has been shown to cause cervico-vaginal irritation. This irritation increases the risk of HIV-1 infections because it causes a disruption to the vaginal and cervical epithelial cell integrity. See Niruthisard et al. Sex. Trans. Dis., Vol. 18, p. 176 (1991). In further studies, rhesus monkeys exposed to simian immunodeficiency virus were also exposed to a high dose of vaginally-inserted Nonoxynol-9 foam. Half of the monkeys developed simian immunodeficiency virus, thus further indicating that Nonoxynol-9 is not an effective anti-viral agent. See Miller et al., J. Med. Primatol, Vol. 19, p. 401 (1990). Hence, Nonoxynol-9, while effective as a contraceptive agent, is irritating to the mucus membranes and is not only not a potent anti-viral agent, but actually serves to increase the risk of viral infection because of its irritant activity.
To date, no compound or composition of compounds have been shown to be both effective anti-bacterial, anti-viral agents as well as effective contraceptive agents which are not irritating to the mucus membranes.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide methods of abrogating sperm motility utilizing anti-bacterial, anti-viral agents.
It is a further object of this invention to provide compositions which are effective contraceptive agents, which compositions are not irritating to the mucus membranes.
It is another object of this invention to provide non-irritating contraceptive compositions, which compositions are effective in abrogating sperm motility, and which compositions have anti-bacterial and anti-viral activity.
It is still another object of this invention to provide methods of enhancing the contraceptive capabilities of conventional contraceptive means utilizing anti-bacterial, anti-viral, non-irritating contraceptive agents.
It is a still further object of this invention to provide conventional contraceptive means with enhanced contraceptive capabilities.